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Tom Skilling, WGN-TV chief meteorologist, appears weekdays on WGN Midday News, WGN Evening News and WGN News at Nine. He celebrated his 30th anniversary with WGN-TV in August 2008. Since 1997, Skilling has masterminded the weather page in the Chicago Tribune. In the city of Chicago and beyond, he has become the superman of meteorology: when in doubt, it is Tom that the city turns to when figuring out the mysteries of nature. WGN-TV received the 2005 Environmental Reporting Award from the Audubon Society, an accomplishment that is due to Tom's performance.

Tom's passion for weather, his graphics-packed presentations and tireless attempts to explain the weather, led to a daily column and his own weather page in the Chicago Tribune and a weekly series on WGN News, "Ask Tom". Tom is a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the National Weather Association, and Sigma Chi. He serves on the AMS nominating committee and holds the AMS's Television Seal of Approval. In January 1995, Tom received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois.

Dear Tom,What can cause a random megacryometer to fall from the sky?— Kevin O'Connor, North AuroraDear Kevin,Megacryometers are huge chunks of ice that on rare occasions fall from a cloudless sky. Weighing from 2 to 400 pounds, they have been the...

Dear Tom,We've already had a 70-degree high this spring. Are we likely to get more measurable snow?— Jonathan Hodges, KankakeeDear Jonathan,Longtime Chicago residents have learned that early-season warmth does not equate to the end of the snow season. The...

Dear Tom,Wasn't the brutally cold winter of 1935-36 an island, surrounded by a sea of unusually mild winters during the rest of that decade?— Brian BeecherDear Brian,It was. During the 1930s, widespread portions of the Plains and Midwest experienced...

Dear Tom,Why does the wind blow?— Sally Johnson, KenoshaDear Sally,The fundamental cause of wind is unequal heating of the air. For example, on a sunny and mild spring day, air over communities like Kenosha andChicago that are adjacent to Lake Michigan...

Chicago set a new record low overnight, but temperatures are expected to spring forward through the weekend and we could be basking in the 50s under sunny skies by Tuesday.
The low overnight was zero degrees at O'Hare International Airport, breaking...

Dear Tom,What is the Maunder minimum?— Bob Kozlik, RiverwoodsDear Bob,The Maunder minimum was a period of extreme reduced solar activity that occurred from about 1640 to 1715. It was named for British astronomers Annie and E. Walter Maunder, who along...

Dear Tom,I note that during the winter months New York City is consistently warmer than Chicago. Why is this?— Dave Gavin, Mount ProspectDear Dave,New York City and Chicago sit approximately the same distance north of the equator, and it might seem...

Dear Tom,The recently discovered video of the Eastland disaster shows the day to be overcast. What was the weather like the day the Eastland sank?— Steve Ignots, Elk Grove VillageDear Steve,It was nearly a century ago when the fully loaded passenger...

Dear Tom,For my viola to sound its best, the music room where I practice is supposed to be kept at a relative humidity level of at least 40 percent. Despite humidifying the room practically nonstop in this frigid weather, the best I can do is the low 20s....

The cold is going to have to kick it down another level if it wants to break a record for February.
As of midnight, the average temperature for the month was 15.8 degrees, nearly 12 degrees below normal but still 1.2 degrees shy of the coldest February...

Low temperatures are expected to hit Chicago on Thursday morning, with wind chills dipping as low as minus 30 degrees.
The National Weather Service is predicting temperatures could possibly tie the 1936 record for Feb. 19 of minus 7 degrees.
As of about...

A wind chill advisory has been issued for the Chicago area from Wednesday evening through the middle of Thursday when temperatures could get as low as 10 below with dangerous wind chills of 30 below.
An Arctic high pressure will move out of the...

Dear Tom,How large can snowflakes become?— Steven IppoliouDear Steven,Most snowflakes are less than one-half inch in diameter, but snowflakes that consist of a large number of individual snow crystals can, on rare occasions, be huge. Certain weather...

Milder temperatures are in the weekend forecast for the Chicago area.
The weather is expected to be in the upper 20s and mid 30s and mostly dry over the next couple of days until Wednesday, when temperatures are expected to drop to the teens, according...

Dear Tom,What is black ice?— Trudy, LibertyvilleDear Trudy,Black ice is just regular ice that forms on streets, sidewalks and driveways. It is nearly invisible because it takes on the color of the pavement, often black on an asphalt surface. It poses a...

The next several days will show us just how spoiled we've gotten this winter.Snow or snow showers are in the forecast from Friday night through at least Tuesday, when an Alberta clipper will "dig across the upper Midwest and Great Lakes, bringing a...

Dear Tom,Is there a quick-and-dirty way to calculate the wind chill temperature?Louis MosbauerDear Louis,There is: Multiply the wind speed by 1.5 and subtract it from the actual air temperature. For example, if the air temperature is 20 degrees with a...